When talks to revise Ryan Clady’s contract reached an impasse, the Broncos turned their attention to Russell Okung, a former first-round draft pick who played the past six seasons on the Seahawks’ offensive line.

A lengthy visit resulted in a five-year pact that, when further examined, is essentially two contracts in one, both working in the Broncos’ favor. Okung, who represented himself in negotiations and avoided paying a 3 percent commission fee to an agent, is guaranteed nothing, according to an NFL source.

The first part of Okung’s contract is for one year and $5 million, not a penny of which is guaranteed before the start of the season. His base salary for 2016 will be $2 million, and he will get a $2 million roster bonus if he’s on the active roster for at least a game. Another $1 million will come his way if he participates in at least 90 percent of the team’s offseason workouts or his rehabilitation; he had shoulder surgery in January and has said he expects to be good to go by June.

If the Broncos exercise their $1 million option on Okung after the 2016 season, he could earn up to $48 million over another four years. But that is contingent upon him first making the team in 2016 and the Broncos deeming him valuable enough to keep for the additional years.

If he sticks around for all five years of the contract, Okung could earn $31 million in salary, $20 million in roster bonuses, $1 million with the 2016 workout bonus and another $1 million with the 2017 option.

But the deal Okung simply described Thursday as “a bit intricate” caused heads to shake across the NFL because of the zero guaranteed money up front. Guaranteed money is everything in a league where one hit can end a season and even a career.

Okung mastered one part of agent game: overselling the deal. Roster bonus should be now, not later, but worst case $1M to work out, then FA.

The NFLPA said it has yet to fully review the terms of Okung’s deal, but added that it wouldn’t comment regardless.

“We don’t frown upon it,” Carl Francis, the NFLPA’s director of communications, said of Okung and other players representing themselves. “It’s their right and their decision, and we support them in their decision.”

Broncos general manager John Elway said the team made a competitive (4-year, $64 million with $30 million guaranteed) offer to quarterback Brock Osweiler, but it wasn’t enough to retain his services.

The contract details are in on what Osweiler, 25, got with the Houston Texans that led him to leave Denver:

4-year, $72 million dollar deal with $37 million guaranteed.

2016: Osweiler will make $21 million. He will get a $4 million guaranteed base salary along with a $12 million signing bonus and $5 million roster bonus due later this month.

2017: Osweiler’s base salary rises to a fully guaranteed $16 million.

2018: $18 million non-guaranteed base salary.

2019: $4 million roster bonus due if Osweiler is on the team in March along with a $13 million base salary. $17 million total, all non-guaranteed money.

The contract is rather interesting because it sets up to be virtually a two-year deal worth $37 million. All of the guaranteed money is in 2016 and 2017 with essentially two non-guaranteed club options in 2018 or 2019.

The $12 million signing bonus is pro-rated for cap purposes throughout the length of the deal adding three million to each base salary and roster bonus, if due.

Osweiler has a very manageable $12 million cap hit in 2016, but that number rises to $19 million, $21 million and $20 million in subsequent years.

Houston can also get out of the deal rather easily after 2017, if they want. The contract pays Osweiler about the average fee of an NFL starting quarterback. Osweiler’s $18 million a year average ties him with Dallas’ Tony Romo for the 14th highest paid quarterback salary.

Osweiler would be 29 at the completion of the contract likely setting up one last big payday in 2020.

Broncos linebacker Von Miller will receive the franchise tag if he and the team cannot reach a long-term deal by March 1. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Franchise tags were introduced in 1993 to help teams, especially small-market clubs, retain their key players. The fully guaranteed contracts are given to restricted free agents, with the values based on a player’s position and salary cap. The tool is helpful to teams, but players typically dislike the insecurity that comes with the one-year contracts.

Nonexclusive franchise players can negotiate and sign offer sheets with any team, but the incumbent team can match any offer to keep the player. If the team doesn’t match, it receives two first-round draft picks as compensation. The value of nonexclusive franchise tags is the greater of the top five cap hits at the player’s position over the last five years applied to the current cap, or 120 percent of the player’s previous year salary.

Exclusive franchise tags bar players from negotiating with any team but their own. The value is the greater of the average of the five largest salaries at his position by the end of restricted free agency, or 120 percent of the his salary the previous season.

Transition tag values are based on the top 10 salaries or 120 percent of the player’s previous year salary — again, whichever is greater. Players can negotiate with other teams and the original team has the first right of refusal, like the nonexclusive tender. But unlike the franchise tag, the original team does not receive any compensation if it doesn’t match.

Teams are granted only franchise and one transition tag per year, and they have until 2 p.m. on March 1 to designate them. The sides can continue to negotiate on a long-term contract, but if one is not reached by 2 p.m. on July 15, the player will play on the tag and a long-term deal cannot be renegotiated until after the team’s last regular-season game.

With the salary cap for 2016 now set at $155.27 million, below are the calculated tag values for each position. Given the variance by position, you can see why the Broncos don’t want to use the tag on quarterback Brock Osweiler and would prefer to not have to use it on defensive end Malik Jackson, either.

With important players like outside linebacker Von Miller, quarterback Brock Osweiler and defensive end Malik Jackson approaching free agency, the Broncos will need a good bit of cap space if they hope to retain as impending free agents as they can.

Denver will carry over $3.3 million in unused 2015 cap space into 2016, according to data released by the NFL Players Association.

That number is around the league median in carryover space this season. 14 teams will carry over a lower amount of cap space than the Broncos. The highest carryover is from Jacksonville, which will have a nearly $33 million increase in spending limit than the base 2016 cap number. The lowest is Seattle, which will have an extra $11,587.

The total carryover amount from 2015 is $203,963,112. The average team carryover is $6.4 million.

The Broncos are one of three teams (Saints, Rams) not to carry over their full allotment in available 2015 cap space to 2016.

The NFL will set the 2016 salary cap sometime in March. The expectation is that it will be a large increase over 2015’s base cap number. Each team’s carryover along with player escalators, bonuses and incentives combine to form a team’s personal spending limit for 2016.

For the years 2013-2016, NFL teams must spend an average of 89-percent of the salary cap over that four-year period.

March 1: Deadline to designate franchise or transition players is 2 p.m. Franchise tags are one-year fully guaranteed contracts for players set to become free agents.

An “exclusive” franchise player cannot negotiate with other teams. The values for each position are no less than average of the five largest salaries at that position for the current year, or 120 percent of the player’s salary from the previous season — whichever is greater.

A “non-exclusive” franchise player may negotiate with other teams, but the original team has the right to match any offer or receive two first-round draft picks. The values for each position are no less than average of the five largest cap hits at that position from the previous five seasons, or 120 percent of the player’s salary from the previous season — whichever is greater.

A transition tag — worth at least the average of the top 10 salaries at that position the previous season, or 120 percent of the player’s previous salary — guarantees the incumbent team the right of first refusal to match an offer the player receives from another team. If it doesn’t match, the team receives no compensation. Teams are allowed only one franchise tag per season, and transition tags — of which teams are also allowed only one per season — can be used when the franchise tag is not.

The Broncos won’t let outside linebacker Von Miller, the Super Bowl MVP, hit the open market, so they can either give him the franchise tag, with an estimated value of $14.1 million for one year, or sign him to a long-term deal.Read more…

Running back Cyrus Gray, a former high school and college teammate of Von Miller’s, previously played with the Chiefs. (Doug Pensinger, Getty Images)

The Broncos signed four players they worked out in December to reserve-future contracts Monday: wide receivers Jace Davis and DeVier Posey, running back Cyrus Gray, and defensive back B.J. Lowery. The four will be added to the roster March 9, when the 2015-16 season begins.

Davis, a 6-foot-2, 209-pound receiver out of Northern Colorado, spent time with the Texans during training camp last year. Previously, he spent time on the Ravens’ practice squad in 2014, when Gary Kubiak was Baltimore’s offensive coordinator.

Posey (6-foot-1, 206 pounds) was drafted out of Ohio State by the Texans in the third round in 2012, when Kubiak was Houston’s head coach. He was traded to the Jets last May, but he was later waived.

Gray, a 5-10, 206-pound Texas A&M product, has not played a regular-season game since November 2014, when he tore an anterior cruciate ligament while with the Chiefs. In 35 games over three seasons, Gray recorded 24 carries for 99 rushing yards and one touchdown, plus nine receptions for 64 yards.

Gray, who was waived by the Chiefs last July, was a high school (DeSoto High in Texas) and college teammate of Broncos linebacker Von Miller.Read more…

Demaryius Thomas signed a five-year, $70 million contract with the Broncos that included $43.5 million in guaranteed money. A big chunk of that — $35 million — will come in the first two seasons of the deal, with his $11 million signing bonus, a $6.5 million roster bonus in 2015 and $17.5 million in salary over 2015 and 2016.

Thomas will receive $14 million in annual salary, tying him with Dallas’ Dez Bryant as the second-highest paid receivers in the NFL. Detroit’s Calvin Johnson earns the most, at $16.2 million. Thomas ranks third among receivers in guaranteed money, behind Johnson ($53.3 million) and Bryant ($45 million).

After months of waiting and negotiating, Demaryius Thomas finally got his money — the most of any Broncos receiver in history.

Minutes before the NFL’s 2 p.m. deadline Wednesday, the Broncos and their star receiver agreed on a five-year, $70 million contract that included $43.5 million guaranteed.

The deal was finalized just minutes after Dez Bryant and the Cowboys reached a five-year, $70 million deal ($45 million guaranteed). The new contracts make Bryant and Thomas the second- and third-highest paid receivers in the NFL, respectively, behind Detroit’s Calvin Johnson.

Johnson, who had been the benchmark in negotiations for Bryant and Thomas over the last few months, signed a seven-year, $113 million extension with the Lions in 2012 ($16.2 million annually) that included a whopping $52.4 million guaranteed. He retains the top spot among the league’s highest-earning receivers.

After Thomas and Bryant agreed to their new contracts Wednesday, many players — as well as Broncos general manager John Elway — took to Twitter to congratulate the two:

Thrilled to reach a long-term deal with Demaryius. He is one of the NFL’s top WRs & will continue to be a big part of the Broncos' success!!

Demaryius Thomas, left, and Dez Bryant both have not signed their franchise tenders as they negotiate long-term deals with their respective teams. (Getty Images)

Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant is “contemplating not reporting” to the team’s first regular-season game if the sides cannot agree on a long-term deal by the July 15 deadline, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported Friday.

It’s an interesting, if extreme, strategy taken by Bryant, who essentially holds the cards to any long-term deal between Demaryius Thomas and the Broncos.

Bryant, like Thomas, hasn’t signed his $12.82 million franchise tag. If he and the Cowboys don’t sign a long-term deal by the July deadline, he’ll have to play on the one-year, guaranteed franchise deal or not at all. If he goes with the latter, he won’t get paid, but he also won’t get injured.

Bryant has paid a couple visits to the Cowboys’ facility during their organized team activities, perhaps showing he was willing to play along in the negotiations — to a point. The latest threat sends the message that he refuses play on a franchise deal — not this year or ever. And that may be enough to push the Cowboys into getting a deal done.Read more…

Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh signed a $114.38 million contract with the Dolphins. (J Pat Carter, The Associated Press)

This year will go down as having one of the wildest NFL free-agent periods in recent history, with 153 total signings.

As The Post’s Mike Klis reported earlier this week, at least six teams were forced to spend big bucks to avoid a penalty because of the collective bargaining agreement.

The CBA that was agreed upon by the league and players in 2011 requires teams to reach a minimum salary-cap threshold (89 percent of cash spent) from 2013-16. Which meant the Jaguars, Raiders, Titans, Eagles, Browns and Jets had to hand out big contracts to players who may not have otherwise received such hefty paychecks.

But as surprising as some of those deals may have been, the total figures provided by the NFL Players’ Association for the 2015 free-agent period so far are more astounding. To wit:

$1,802,821,620

Total contract value of the 153 free-agent signings

$788,491,999

Total guaranteed money in the 153 free-agent signings

97

Unrestricted free agents who signed with new teams (guaranteed: $644,104,999; total value: $1,413,501,620)

56

Unrestricted free agents who re-signed with current teams (guaranteed: $144,387,000; total value: $389,320,000)

His two-year, $4.25 million deal had previously been reported by The Denver Post, but union documents reveal his contract included a fairly impressive $1.5 million signing bonus. Stewart also has $1.75 million in playing-time bonuses. It adds up to where Stewart is getting paid like a player expected to start, but is not assured. His contract:

Owen Daniels agreed to a three-year deal with the Broncos. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

What’s interesting about the three-year, $12.25 million contract the Broncos gave tight end Owen Daniels is only his $3 million signing bonus is guaranteed. Apparently, Daniels isn’t afraid to bet on himself. How his contract breaks down:

The NFL Management Council released its performance pay distributions Friday. The pay is based on a formula where the bigger bonuses are given to those who make the least and play the most.

It used to be Chris Harris, an undrafted free-agent cornerback, who received the Broncos’ largest performance pay stipends each year. But he played on a $2.187 million restricted free-agent salary last year, and has since earned a nice contract extension so the largest bonuses this year went to linebacker Brandon Marshall ($277,471), running back C.J. Anderson ($150,963), defensive lineman Malik Jackson ($150,845), rookie linebacker Corey Nelson ($147,712) and tight end Julius Thomas ($134,585). Those checks will go out April 1.

Thomas received a five-year, $46 million contract that averages out to $9.2 million a year. The deal includes a whopping $15.1 million in 2015 alone — $9 million in base salary, a $6 million signing bonus and a $100,000 offseason workout bonus, according to an NFL source.

Thomas’ $9.2 million-per-year average now catapults him past Seattle’s Jimmy Graham and New England’s Rob Gronkowski, both at $9 million a year. Graham had been making $10 million per year with New Orleans, but he agreed to a restructured three-year, $27 million contract upon his trade Tuesday to Seattle.

Peyton Manning has two more years left on his contract and he’s stated previously he plans on playing out that contract.

But because he’s 38 years old, and because those final two years are not guaranteed, there’s always a question how much longer he will play. Manning said during his press conference Wednesday he does not plan on retiring any time soon.

The Broncos’ scouting and personnel department were busy Tuesday as the team worked out 13 players, including former Northern Colorado quarterback Seth Lobato.

The team also looked at five receivers — San Jose State’s Chandler Jones; Maine’s Jeremy Kelly; Buffalo’s Alex Neutz; and Arizona State’s Kerry Taylor and Kyle Williams. Williams is a former receiver/returner for the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.